Heather Redding contributed to this article
The cooperation among its members is what makes a team great. Performance optimization is not about the process, but about the team.
Everyone is human and there will be friction. If you notice recurring problems, then you should resolve them immediately.
These are the most common friction points in a team.
1) Ineffective team communication
Healthy team communication is essential for a project’s success. Effective communication means that everyone involved in a task can communicate clearly and openly.
Miscommunication can lead to tension among team members, which can then be exacerbated by them feeling tense each time they start a conversation.
Misunderstandings often result from differences in communication styles.
These inconsistencies can lead to incoherences that can make it difficult for the team to communicate effectively. This can have a negative effect on your project’s success.
The solution? Your team should agree on ground rules for communication to ensure that all information is communicated and any ambiguity is eliminated.
A failure to clearly communicate a task can lead to task doubling or a dependent task being started late.
Imagine putting in all the work to complete a task only to discover that your colleague did the same. This means that one of you wasted their time on something that was unnecessary.
This is going to cause friction between team members.
Ineffective communication between team members is one of the biggest friction points. This must be addressed if your team wants smooth sailing as they work on their projects.
2) Unclear Roles and Responsibilities
You can cause discord among team members by leaving the roles and responsibilities unclear and watch tensions rise.
Poorly defined roles, responsibilities and expectations can cause friction and create a discord among the team.
If roles overlap, it is possible for team members to be required to work on the same tasks simultaneously.
There is a risk of arguments arising when people disagree on how something should happen, not to mention who should do it.
3) Inadequacy of Accountability
There are many ways to instill a culture that encourages accountability within your organization. Start by creating an accountability plan.
This tool clearly identifies who is responsible for what task and allows for liability to be established if things go wrong. These might also be known as the Responsibility Accountability Matrix (RAM) or RAM.
Celebrate team wins together. Discuss team success with all members of the team and let them own it.
This will encourage them take responsibility for their work, even if things don’t go according to plan.
Don’t forget to lead by example. As a leader of the team, you can take responsibility for their failures and set an example for them.
It is important to clearly define roles and responsibilities so that there is less conflict within the team.
4) Allowing team members to underperform
It is a serious problem to have team members who don’t do their job. You need to address this issue as soon as you can.
If your team has members who consistently underperform, it can cause a loss of morale for the hard-working employees.
These hardworking members are often unable to discipline underperformers, so they can only talk to you.
Their inability to get slackers finally to achieve the desired results further undermines team cohesion. It’s up to you, the leader, to fix that problem.
Low-performing team members force others take the extra work on their behalf – and nothi!